Genres

Visitors Review

harry smart 2012-05-25 02:58:38

Too scary, but had to keep watching

I saw this episode on discovery channel last night. Just before I wasgoing to sleep, a very bad decision. Switching from one channel toanother, I was thinking maybe discovery channel will air a supernaturalshow and voila, there it was. Watching it was absolutely terrifying, Icould not change the channel, because I had to see the ending.Actually, from the moment the mother was mopping the floor, I washooked. But definitely worth the while. Although I did not sleep well,the terror kept haunting me (so to speak).I think it will stay with me for sometime, and it's good to read thecomments of other viewers. Unlike some of you I don't like horrormovies or suspension thrillers (it scares me so much, it's not pleasantanymore), unless I know in advance there worth watching, like the 'SixtSense' and 'Unbreakable'. Also very impressive, but at least there werebased on fiction. 'Unbreakable' also gave a feeling about what trueevil looks like. Something I never hope to experience personally!In short, a very impressive documentary, I reward it with a 9.

2012-05-24 13:02:11

Creepy docudrama

I love the Haunting series produced by the Discovery Channel, and have all Seasons 1-4. The show is well-produced and most of the stories not only ring true but have the ability to really creep viewers out.Of all the stories portrayed in the series, I'd have to say "A Haunting in Connecticut" stands out as one of the scariest stories. In this story, the Parker family moves into their supposedly dream home, a break they desperately need considering one of their children, a son, suffers from cancer. Instead, the family is beset by spooky goings-on, and discover to their horror certain strange artifacts in the house such as coffin keys and a huge freezer in the cellar. They realise that the house used to be a funeral home, and have to cope with the hauntings. They finally seek the help of Edward and Lorraine Warren, the same couple that investigated another haunted house that came to be known as the Amityville horror. The docu-drama is credibly done with effects that are average, yet manage to creep out viewers. The story is also something that doesn't seem unbelievable, there is a ring of truth to it, and though the movie version seems to sensationalize the story, this docu-drama effectively captures the family's nightmare and plight. The viewer comes to sympathize with the family, especially given that they already have enough on their plate - a sick son and added on to that, a house that is inhabited by supernatural entities. Highly recommended, and while you're at it, I'd recommend getting Haunting Seasons 1-4, especially since it is currently being heavily discounted here on Amazon.

2012-05-22 22:25:22

Great Episode, but fair quality DVD Transfer

This review is from: A Haunting in Connecticut (DVD) To start with, I love all of the "A Haunting" shows shown on Discovery Channel. My only gripe with this one episode is the poor DVD transfer. The DVD is very dark in many areas when compared to the broadcast version shown on The Discovery Channel. They could have done a much better job in transfering the show onto DVD. The dark areas on the DVD are much brighter on the broadcast version of the show. Still worth getting. The Haunting shows look wonderful on Discovery Channel HD. I wish they would put them out on Blu-ray. Fat chance of that since the show was cancelled.

jl50jjl 2012-05-22 12:58:24

great, i loved it.

i thought it was a wonderful film and kinda creepy. I liked it so muchi recorded it and have my friends watch it.The demon with the blackeyes scared the heck out of me though. I was afraid to walk around myhouse in the dark after that part. ha ha. I also thought BrettFleisher, Paul Parker, did a wonderful job of acting. The whole castwas great though. I absolutely recommend it because once you watch 10minutes of it, you have to stay for the rest, its so interesting. Mybest friend loved it too, but she was like freaking out when the blackeyed guy came on just like was doing. I hope it comes on again soonbecause when I taped it the tape ran out about 20 minutes before itended, so my friend does not know how it ends. Anyways I give it adouble thumbs up and 10 stars!!

2012-05-20 04:32:20

Riveting!

This review is from: A Haunting in Connecticut (DVD) I found this story very interesting and was glad to be able to watch this video before seeing the movie version of it. I like the way the actual people that this happened to help narrate it and give you their perspective and feelings. The seller was great to deal with and shipped this item quickly.

mattyovashton09 2012-05-19 14:05:41

Possibly the most boring and stupid thing i have ever seen.

I first got this DVD by accident as i was told it was the actual 2009cinema released a Haunting in Connecticut, but as i had it i thought iwould come on here and see the reviews people had written about thefilm, i saw people saying that it was the scariest thing they had seenand numerous accounts saying that they had witnessed or felt paranormalactivity after watching this film, so when i saw this i expected a veryscary film and what i got was the complete opposite poorly filmed andthe usual bits that make you jump where just missing, i rate this 1 outof 10 only because 0 isn't available to use. If you want to watch it byall means watch it but i highly recommend watching the 2009 version andnot watching this excuse of a film.

tomjohn399 2012-05-13 17:04:01

Fun, But Silly Fiction

I enjoy a good ghost story, but this just falls into that AmityvilleHorror silly fiction category. So the house is haunted because it wasonce a funeral home. -- But wait! There's more! The place is alsopossessed by the devil! Gee, was it also built on an Indian burialground? Low budget stuff. Strictly last resort viewing. Not to beconfused with the theatrical movie of the same name, although that'sundoubtedly what the producers want. Overly long and originallyproduced for the Discovery Channel, although why Discovery would everair this is beyond me. There is a twin production on the same DVD Ibought called A Haunting in Georgia, which is a similarly cheap,pointless escapade that unexpectedly turns into an ode to thefundamentalist Christian mentality.

Christian Gupta 2012-05-13 05:55:08

Scariest Thing I have Ever Seen

I made the mistake of seeing this at night, cause after I saw it, I didnot sleep at all, I stayed up all night watching t.v.It took a lot to recover from this scary Documentary.Anyway, seeing that this is just an ordinary 3 story house with lowrent, beautiful furnishings, large kitchen, 2 upstairs bed rooms, 2upstairs bathrooms, a larger living room, and a 2 room basement. Ithought, nothing can be too scary in this house, but boy was I wrong.It scared me to death, I couldn't help but feel sorry for those livingin the house. Seeing that ghost calling Paul's name was scary, but theworst parts were seeing him trap Karen in the shower, drive a truck andalmost crushing Ed to death, and standing on the stairs giving a cameraman a head on attack. At that moment, I just wanted to scream. Seeingthat ghost's face just from and then seeing his mouth smirk, and thenturn into a fireball, was enough to knock me out of my chair.After seeing this, I saw The Shining, and The Shining is no where nearas scary as this terrifying documentary. I do not recommend watchingthis, unless you want the living daylights scared out of you. Seeingthis haunted me for some time. I am now over it, but I know that I willnever see this documentary again. One watch was enough.Do Not Watch This, Unless You Are Willing To See The Shining, TheHaunting, and be willing to get scared to the death, cause thisdocumentary will haunt you for some time.

2012-05-12 20:14:23

Haunted by the fact I paid premium price to see it.

This picture left me with a sense of being haunted but for reasons one might not suspect. First I paid threatre price to see it. Second I was told by the person who accompanied me that I dozed off for a few seconds while watching it. While I dont totally believe this it might be true as it lacked much to define it as frightening or scary. Given this was passed off as horror (although it had PG13 rating) I was left haunted a little by my own mild embarrassment at being perhaps a tad rude perhaps to my theatre companion and the filmakers that there horror frightner could induce me to a state of negative consciousness for even a few seconds. The basic premise is fine as far as premises go. Which with this film was pretty short. A son sticken with cancer and a family renting a house near a hospital while the eldest son gets chemotherapy. The home has a past. It is former mortuary where years of inconceivable acts occurred. Good start. Virgina Madsen, one my favorite actresss, was the stalwart mother holding the family togther in a role she has played so well before. However even her talent seems mostly wasted here. The opening was the most credible part for her. The begining catches us for a few minutes. It is a teaser. It fools us into thinking heh this might be interesting. Madsen talks to the TV camera about the horror of her family story. At the end she comes back to do a wrap up and this is a nice way to tie everything into a package. Kudos to the filmakers doing this. However, films are more than beginning and endings neatly tied. Because yes Virginia, films do have a middle and this picture has no Santa Clause. It was a shame to watch Madsen along with notables such as Elias Koteas (the priest) simply appear to be wasted talent going through the motions as opposed to acting. Kyle Gallner gives a fair performance, portraying his build to insanity. So the acting was not really the main problem. It is Hard to rise like an eagle for any of these actors when the script is basically a turkey. After the initial interest of opening, things descend to the basement literally and figuratively. For some reason the son with cancer decides to reside in the cellar while getting his treament. What follows is a muddled nightmare of crashing banging,and jolting, in a filmic style best decribed as a train after it has left the rails but still tryinmg to stay upright. It bumps bangs, grinds, and crashes from scene to scene supported by an equlally jolting background cast replete with shreaking, wailing violins and other sounds designed to make you jump and of course appropriate visuals of barbecued corpses and other wrapped dead bodies that reminded me of footage from other films. There were some interesting ectoplasmic effects and even a priest who reminded me vaguely of the Exorcist. Interesting scene near the end of a faded shot of the cancer son in a graveyard. Is he dead? It jolts back to a scene of firefighters doing CPR on sons chest. The films trys to attempt some climax as struggling to make us ask the big life question. Is this check out time? Will cancer son live or succumb to his illness and the demon house which is actually keeping him alive.In this moment of attempted "climatic moment" we should feel something. Most would hope on some level he makes it but from a film perespective we are not given much to reason to care. Throughout cancer son's trial with chemotherapy the film provid little ffor us to hang on to. The son might as well have had the misery of psorsias. Even approrpriate horror film stock scenes of vomiting did not make us feel anymore empathy. Add to this a pseudo tragic picture of an alcoholic father in some rage to turn of lightbulbs and it the result had me thinking maybe he was in the wrong film trying to save the world from an energy crisis. The director seemed to forget we might want to care about the characters. Insconstenecies in the story are for others to note. Why didnt the family just leave? Who knows. In fact, what this picture really needed to work for me was clowns. Clowns are scary. A large set of nasty clown figures in masks screaming and running wild would have topped things off. So that makes no sense? This assume the film itself makes sense overall. Haunting uses a cliche hook in the credits saying it based on a true story. Yes it based on a real life family. So what. As one writer noted listening or watching the family who experienced the real terror might have been more interesting and apparently according to reviews the original story available on several big box sites as a bio documentrary is quite well done. Truth stranger than fiction perhaps? Well this film is high in the strange quotient. Fright quotient of Haunting is mininmal. Music was maybe the sum total of films creep quotient. Although it was "startling" when a pile of dishes broke loudly, among other things banging around. However someone sitting in front of the theater was talking or arguing loudly on a cell phone jolted me more than the the picture. Maybe todays audience equates being jolted by loud banging and jumpy edits as the hallmarkmark of good horror. My rating system gives it 3 stars. Two for Viginia Madsen doing well with what she had to work with and 1 for Gallner) and 2 yawns. A haunting cinematic vista of schlock and jolt. Tim M Smith.

2012-05-12 16:55:43

Fascinating and scary!

A Haunting was one of the best series ever made for television and this was by far one of the scariest episodes Based on the testimony of a family that lived in a haunted house.

2012-05-10 02:11:13

Very Creepy

I got this becuase I was curious about the movie. I hope the movie is as creepy as the real life story. Recommended for any true ghost story fan.

2012-05-09 18:20:39

Very Scary!

This review is from: A Haunting in Connecticut (DVD) This episode is 10 times better than the movie A Haunting in Connecticut. The episode is realistic, unlike the movie. It's very scary, I reccomend to watch it with somebody! The poor boy has cancer, and so the mother finds a big house in Connecticut, close to his hospital where he receives treatment. The house is very cheap, and she soon finds out why. Because it was a former funeral home. The boys move into the basement, where all the hauntings mostly happen. It soon posesses the boy with cancer, who acts very strange with his family and starts attacking. Anyways, I highly reccomend this movie to anybody who loves to be scared!

2012-05-05 05:48:35

bof

i don' t understand why everybody scare about this so i bought the dvd i watched it yesterday and i wasn't scared at all if you want to be scare you have to watch the exorcism of emily rose or amityville 2 possession

talbertjzx 2012-05-04 23:59:00

A Haunting in Connecticut

I think that A Haunting in Connecticut was really spooky and a reallygreat story. I loved it. It's very obvious that this really happened tothis family and only continues to prove the existence of life after thephysical form dissolves is indeed true. There is no death, people seemto think life and death,...... doesn't exist, birth and death, yes, butlife has no opposite. The fact that the family members are narratingthrough the show, to me, proves the reality of this event. As HumanBeings I believe we have the ability to sense honesty in each other. Isense the honesty in this family, you can hear it in their bodylanguage and voice. I hope the family doesn't frown on this comment butI think that the whole event was necessary for Paul/Stephen(Steven)? tohave had his cancer taken away. That to me is what makes this a greatstory about a haunting. I think that is why the event happened to them,for Pauls sake. Please try to see the positive in this. I know that notall hauntings look positive, but then again everything happens for areason, and when the mind looks at an event, it only sees that oneevent, a small sliver of the big picture/event, and then labels it goodor bad, not ever seeing the whole picture and the connectedness of allevents,..........one thing happens so that another may happen, etc.. Asfar as the actors, I think they were excellent! I think that everythingcame together just as it needed to. Everyone of the actors were aperfect fit for this show, and it really is spooky. It's better thanany scary movie I have ever seen, and if a movie is in fact made Ican't imagine it being better than this TV show, no way. This is one ofmy favorite shows I have ever seen. I wish I had a store bought copy ofit but have never found it for sale anywhere. My other favoritehaunting show is Summerwind, another excellent show that I would rate a10, but this is my favorite! Thank you for letting me post on your siteand have a nice day! :) - Jason(talbertj300zx@yahoo.com)

2012-05-02 05:13:58

Excellent documentary

This review is from: A Haunting in Connecticut (DVD) This is perhaps my wife's favorite documentary on ghosts. I've seen it with her a few times now and its always very enjoyable. The production value is top notch and definitely gets you hooked. Easily the best of series.

hinesgtrservice 2012-05-02 00:25:54

What a Load

I was fairly excited for this even though the other "A Haunting"episodes I've seen have been a laughing stock. I read so many greatthings, and the high rating here on IMDb led me to believe that thiswas actually going to be a spooky tale. I already knew that this story had been debunked, but it didn't muchmatter to me; I treat all of these as works of fiction. Well, as it turns out, everyone was wrong. This story is far fromcreepy. It starts out fairly nice with an eerie setting as the houseused to be a Funeral Parlor. Here's where it just gets ridiculous. Arewe supposed to believe that expensive, dangerous and morbid equipmentused on the deceased was just left behind? No way in hell. Are wesupposed to believe that this family actually uses the freezer thatheld human cadavers for food? Right; though they seem nuts enough. Then we find out there's a demon in the house and Ed and LorraineWarren (sigh) claim the portal to hell lies there. Yeah, that's thesame thing they said with the other big name haunting-Amityville. (Yetanother hoax they were involved in.) This story is just so over-the-top, it's downright silly. Far from disturbing as so many others claim. I suppose if you reallybelieve in demons, exorcism, and fairy-tale deities, there's a chanceyou could maybe buy into their story. Otherwise, you'll be laughing thewhole way through. Overall, it isn't even worth the couple of chuckles you get. I supposeit is disturbing in the fact that people believe this junk and thathumans actually act this way in real life all for faith.

2012-05-01 04:48:53

The documentary is scarier and more interesting than the movie

This documentary is one of the scariest haunting stories of which I've heard, and is probably the best episode in Discovery's haunting series. I will warn you that there are spoilers ahead.The premise of the story that the Snedeker family needs to move closer to where the oldest son, Stephen, is being treated for cancer. The family thinks they have found the answer to their prayers when they find a large home that has just been remodeled that is being leased for a very reasonable price. However, they soon learn the reason for the bargain. The house is a former funeral home. However, with the expense of the son's cancer treatment weighing heavily on the family budget, the Snedekers are unable to afford breaking their lease and moving to yet another house. Demons soon invade their domicile - or they invade the demons' domicile, depending on how you look at it - until the supernatural detectives, the Warrens, are called in and with the help of an exorcism, restore peace to the household. Just as much as fright, though, I felt a great deal of anger at the Snedekers as parents. For one thing, Mr. Snedeker seems to believe that the size of his electricity bill is more important than the mental health of a child recovering from cancer since he removes all of the light bulbs from the basement bedroom so that Stephen can no longer sleep with the lights on. Then he forces the boy to continue sleeping in this bedroom in spite of his tales of horror of being tormented by apparitions coming from the former embalming room adjacent to his basement bedroom. He does this in spite of the fact that he and his wife have both personally been the victims of attacks and witnesses of various manifestations of the house's spirits. Afterwards, in despair, the boy just gives in to the demons' collective will, manifesting in more and more bizarre behavior until he finally attacks a visiting cousin. How Mrs. Snedeker could have invited this young niece into her home in the first place just because she wanted the companionship and help around the house, having witnessed firsthand the mayhem that the house's demons can cause, as well as her son's deteriorating mental state, is a wonder to me. I have read an interview with the author of a book on this haunting, which tracks this documentary closely, and he paints both the Warrens and the Snedekers in a very unflattering light in that interview. He basically says that he does not really believe the Snedekers' stories, since even the Warrens themselves told the author that they think that all of their clients are crazy including the Snedekers. Plus, apparently there was considerable drug and alcohol abuse going on in the Snedeker household and the family members would never tell the same story twice. The author only went through with writing his book because he was already legally obligated to do so. However, even if the account told in this documentary is total fiction, it is well told and frightening fiction and I highly recommend it. It is much better than the movie which suffers from a real lack of imagination given the subject matter.

kbenham85-991-823195 2012-04-30 16:00:44

Unsettling, whether it's true or not

A Haunting in Connecticut is proof to me that truth is scarier thanfiction—or at least that fiction is scarier when it is marketed astruth. Not that I'm offering an opinion, one way or the other, aboutthe veracity of this program's claims.Whether it's true or not, viewing this Discovery Channel reenactmentdocudrama proved to be two of the most unsettling hours I've ever spentin front of a television set. The combination of low-key lighting,somber narration, hair-raising incidental music, and dark subjectmatter (not to mention the fact that I was watching this alone) put mein such a despairing funk that by the end of it I was wishing forsunshine, friendly faces, and the healing hand of God.The documentary style here lends much credibility to the otherwiseincredible story. Not since Unsolved Mysteries' ghost specials have Iseen the paranormal handled so convincingly. Particular images havestayed burned in my mind: the disappearing crucifixes; the bed sheetsbeing pulled off the cousin; the sister's doppelganger standing at thebottom of the stairs turning the lights on and off—and the lights goingon and off with no bulbs in the sockets. The principal demonicpresence, with a blank expression and coal-black eyes, was particularlychilling.Demonic possession is a tricky subject to handle, especially whenworking with a restrictions-laden medium like television. There'salways the risk of the whole thing degenerating into ridiculous,unconvincing camp. Unlike some of the later episodes in the "AHaunting" series, the producers handled this one ably. Even with somerather hammy effects toward the end of the program, A Haunting inConnecticut is still a very compelling story. It has the potential ofmaking paranormal believers of us all and, quite possibly, Christiansout of some.

2012-04-25 10:27:32

Not what I thought

This review is from: A Haunting in Connecticut (DVD) It wasn't very clear that this is the documentary on the true story of the haunting in connecticut. I thought this was the movie, but it isn't.

Unbreakable27 2012-04-24 18:46:36

Anything supernatural fascinates me

I watched this for the first time around Christmas of last year with mywife.And we could barely sleep after wards.We had to watch something funny to make ourselves forget about it.What makes me so scared of this is that I have experienced things thatI to this day cannot explain or even really care to remember.Please do not think I'm nuts but here are a few of the things I'veexperienced that made me think a little more seriously about a spiritworld.1. A week or two after my wife's grandfather died a few years ago, mynine year old daughter tells me that she saw her great-grandfather in anavy blue suit and red tie in her bedroom. HE was buried in a navy bluesuit and red tie and she did not attend his funeral.2. My son who's only three recognized my deceased mother's photo (diedfour years BEFORE he was born)as his grandmother long before I evertold him this. He'd look at the photo and saw 'granma'.Gave me and my wife the willies.3. As a kid I remember hearing rumors that the apartment complex Ilived in was built on an old graveyard. I used to discard this as myfriends trying to scare me, until one night in my bedroom I saw afigure walk into my room, it was totally black so I couldn't make outany features, I was half sleep and simply assumed it to be my motherlooking in on me, the figure walked back out into the dark hall and Iwent back to sleep, thinking nothing of it.The next morning I asked my mother had she come in and peeked in on mythat night ad she told me she never got out of bed.I don't really think the presence was malevolent, because I didn't feelany fear, in fact I felt protected, which is why I guess I thought itwas my mom. It was like whatever it was it was simply checking on me inthe middle of the night.4. As a kid in the same house, me and a pal of mine were playing videogames when a tile from the bath tub flew out into the hallway. We werehome alone. And I would have thought it the tile had just fallen itwould have fallen into the bath tub. It was as if it were thrown.5. And perhaps the most chilling account, was once when my mother andher boyfriend at the time(who would eventually become my stepfather)had gotten to arguing and when she tried to prevent him from leaving hehappened to shove her to the side. Well later that night, after theymade up, he told her that at that moment he felt as if someone grabbedhim by the neck. I did not witness this, but my mother did say he leavecoughing and gagging. Even remembering these things and writing them runs a chill up myspine.So I truly believe in the paranormal and spirits.Watching this documentary only fueled my belief.The man with the red eyes was the most frightening thing I'd ever seenon television.If I woke up and saw something like that looking at me, I'd pee allover myself.My experiences were mild and in most cases seemed benevolent and justplaying light hearted jokes (the tile), but I couldn't imagine facingsomething this evil.